Sensei? Who? Me?
by KonohasBlackReaper
Summary: [Post series] Naruto causes Tsunade some headaches and now the Hokage is looking for payback. The Result? 23 year old Naruto gets a genin team. A small window into Naruto's life as a Jounin-sensei. Story consists of independent arcs. OC for genins. They are NOT kids of the Konoha 11. Join Naruto as he passes on his Will of Fire
1. Sensei? Who? Me?

**Hey Guys! I had this idea one day and couldn't get it out of my head. I just had to do something about it as it was hindering my other ongoing fics. So I decided to do this.**

**This story is a window into Naruto's life as a sensei of a genin team. There won't be a central villain, or a conspiracy. Just a light humorous look into the team and their mission along with their friends.**

**The story will consist of independent arcs and after each arc, I'll label the story compete until I begin a new arc.**

**The number of arcs will depend on the response the story gets, so Review if you want more.**

**Once an arc gets started, I'll update soon, like once every fifteen days. But the time between two successive arcs will take more time, depending on the time I have and inspiration.**

**I'll put a list of OC kids at the end. :-D**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 1: A Sensei? Who? Me?**

"Are you sure?" a silver haired, masked ninja asked his Hokage.

"Yep." Came the reply.

A buxom blonde sat, leaning back into her chair in the Hokage's office. "It's about time the brat took on some responsibility. The sooner he becomes a more responsible ninja, the sooner I can get rid of this god forsaken hat and relax all day like I want to." The blonde looked at the offending tri-cornered hat, with the kanji for 'Fire' written on one corner.

The silver haired man chuckled. "I'd love to be there when you tell him.", he sniggered, then he caught the glint in the woman's eyes.

"You are going to tell him before the actual assignments, right?" he asked.

The Godaime Hokage just shook her head. "You still have so much to learn, Kakashi.", amusement clear in her voice. "Besides," Tsunade smirked, "I still have to pay him back for that fiasco of a jounin exam he designed. I still haven't heard the last of it from the clan heads."

Silently, Kakashi made a mental note to stop causing the Hokage any grief. He didn't want to wake up one day and find out that he was to lead a genin team again. He would rather spend his time inside the village with his wife and his own kid, thank you very much.

* * *

The academy classroom was alive with excitement. The newly graduated but-not-yet-genin, not that they knew it, were waiting for their lives as ninja to begin.

Tsuchi Shuuei sat with his friend/rival Shouha Kenchi waiting for Udon-sensei to finish reading out the team assignments so he could know which team he had been assigned to.

"Next, Team seven." Udon-sensei read out as the boy tried to listen for his name. "Tsuchi Shuuei,"

_Finally_ he thought as his teacher continued.

" Yuri Ai and Nara Kisuke, their Jounin sensei is Uzumaki Naruto."

"You got Ai, eh?" Kenchi asked him, enviously. "She's wasted on your team.", he said good naturedly.

Shuuei just shrugged. Unlike many others, Shuuei wasn't one of Yuri Ai's many admirers. Not that Ai wasn't pretty, she was. Very much so, if most boys were to be believed. She just wasn't Shuuei's type. Shuuei glanced at Nara Kisuke, who looked like he was barely awake. Shuuei had once heard someone say that the lazier the Nara, the more brilliant he was. He certainly hoped so. He didn't want a dead weight on his team. He wasn't close to the boy, so he didn't really know how good he was.

Usually clan children already had a friend circle when they entered the academy and kept to it. Vaguely, he heard his friend's name also announced. "Team nine. Yamanaka Hina, Haruno Takeshi and Shouha Kenchi. Their Jounin instructor is Inuzuka Kiba."

Shuuei patted his friend's back. "You got Hina, so it's not bad either. Too bad you got that Takeshi as well." Kenchi agreed. Yamanaka Hina was a popular girl as well, arguably the second prettiest girl. She had a twin sister as well, Yamanaka Hana. Just the thought of the girl was enough to send chills up Kenchi's spine. While Hina was all right, her sister was a bossy, loud and violent girl. It was the reason Hina was number two in his eyes even though Hana took more pains to look good.

He sympathized with whichever poor sod that got Hana on his team.

Both friends were brought out of their reverie by Udon-sensei closing his files with a snap. "You're Jounin instructors will begin arriving shortly. Until then, I suggest you get to know your teammates better if you aren't close with them. They are going to be with you for years to come."

With lots of murmuring and talking, the young ones started moving towards their teammates to sit one team per bench. They were still talking when the yell was heard.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN JOUNIN-SENSEI?"

The entire class was suddenly silent, surprised at the sudden shouting out in the hallways. The same voice continued, probably after talking to someone who wasn't shouting as their voice didn't reach the class.

"I WAS JUST TOLD TO COME HERE BY TSUNADE-BAACHAN. NO ONE SAID ANYTHING ABOUT BECOMING A JOUNIN SENSEI, DATTEBAYO."

The children were even more surprised. Who referred to the Hokage as 'Granny'?

"NO! ! NO ! NO AND NO! AND BEFORE I FORGET, DID I SAY NO? 'CUZ IF I DIDN'T, I'M SAYING IT NOW. NO! NO WAY IN _HELL_ AM I TAKING ON THREE BRATS!"

By now, the students were curious and a little afraid. Whoever it was, didn't seem very happy with them. All of them looked around the classroom, eyeing each other, hoping it wasn't their Jounin sensei.

The sight of Udon-sensei sweating bullets didn't escape them either. Neither did his shaky "Leader sounds angry."

Before anyone could say anything, footsteps were heard quickly approaching their classroom. Sure enough, their door slid open violently and Udon-sensei flinched.

In the doorway stood a young man with spiky, blonde hair. He looked in his early twenties. The students stared at the ninja. The man wore a dark grey shinobi outfit that had, _-Orange? _ strips running down the side of his pants. The children didn't know it but the amount of orange was very less than what it used to be a few years ago. The jacket had a little more orange than the pants, most of it peeping from under a crimson cloak that had a design of black flames at the hem. The whole look was completed by a black hitai-ate on his forehead and a large scroll fastened at his back with a leather belt.

"UDON…." The ninja growled menacingly.

To the students surprise and a little fear, the all-powerful (at least in the students' eyes) Udon-sensei wilted in front of the ninja's glare. "This better not be your idea of a prank." The new ninja hissed.

Udon-sensei gulped. "No of course not, Leader. When I saw your name on the list I thought you knew. I was surprised as well because Leader hadn't told us anything about wanting to take a genin team." The young chuunin explained.

As the chuunin-sensei explained himself to the incensed ninja, others entered the classroom as well.

"A-ano." A beautiful, lavender eyed kunoichi entered, looking at the red cloaked ninja. "I don't think being angry is the answer." She moved to his side gracefully, her long hair shining. She was followed by another jounin, his marked cheeks identifying him as an Inuzuka, and a slightly older ninja with a scar across his nose and his brown hair in an ponytail, pineapple style. The Inuzuka was laughing, while the other ninja was mildly amused. Students watched, spellbound , the scene unfolding in the class room. Slowly, other jounin entered as well, showing varying degrees of amusement. The blue haired kunoichi managed to calm the angry blonde enough for the jounin to relax and look at the latest batch of academy graduates.

"I'm still not saying I'll take them." He huffed.

The brown haired ninja smiled, "Don't be like that Naruto. Just ten year years ago, you were sitting where they are now."

_Naruto._

The student body as a whole, turned to look at the unfortunate graduates of Team Seven as Shuuei and Kisuke exchanged glances with each other. Ai looked at the blonde, a little intimidated. Naruto noticed the other students looking at the trio. He narrowed his gaze at them.

"So." He said. All three gulped.

"You're the ones granny is trying to pawn off on me, huh?" He dragged his eyes over the three, giving them a once over.

Udon-sensei cleared his throat. "Um- Yes, Leader. This is Team Seven."

This piece of information caused the blonde's eyes to widen in surprise. "Seven?" he asked. Udon-sensei nodded. His eyes narrowed again as the other three jounin standing with him smiled as if they were sharing some joke.

"Sneaky old hag." The blonde hissed. "Very well." He said, addressing Team seven. "Meet me at Ichiraku's Ramen stand in an hour. I have an old granny to go give a piece of my mind to."

In a flash of crimson, he was gone.

* * *

Even though Tsunade was expecting him any moment, she still jumped when Naruto appeared with the tell-tale flash of Hiraishin.

"Don't do that, gaki." She grumbled as she relaxed. "One of these days you'll give me a heart attack and then Kakashi will have to become Hokage. Your dream will go to hell for twenty years until he retires. So, what brings you here?"

Naruto seethed at the question. He knew that Tsunade knew why he was there. The old hag had probably shared a few laughs since morning, thinking about this moment.

"You know damn well why, dattebayo." Naruto grit his teeth. "You assigned me to a FREAKIN' GENIN TEAM!" he yelled.

"Now, now Naruto-kun" Shizune entered the office, trying to hide her smile. "Language."

"DAMN LANGUAGE!" Naruto yelled again, hurt that Shizune was a part of this too. A chuckle informed him of the presence of his former teacher. "Kakashi-sensei." He turned to find the jounin leaning against the window frame. There wasn't any orange book in sight anywhere. A few years ago, he had stopped reading it in public after Anko had shown him that it was more fun _doing_ than reading that stuff. Now, the jounin only read it with her, who was now also his wife. "You were in on it too." He said accusingly, feigning hurt.

"Oh drop it, gaki. We did it for your own good." Tsunade waved her hand at the blonde. A vein popped in the blonde's forehead.

"Oh really?" he asked, sarcasm dripping from his voice.

Tsunade looked at her favorite citizen of Konoha with a small smile, "Really." Both blonde's continued to look at each other but the darker blonde finally gave in, after a while. His shoulder's relaxed as he exhaled loudly.

"Explain." He asked the Hokage.

Tsunade leaned back into her chair. "I don't deny that in terms of strength, you are past most Kages, Naruto. _But,"_ she paused, "You still lack the responsible outlook that is a must for a village leader." Naruto frowned at that. "I'm not irresponsible, ba-chan." He complained.

Tsunade nodded and Kakashi spoke. "But you're not exactly responsible either, Naruto." At this, even Shizune nodded, much to the chagrin of the blonde youngster, but he could see where they were coming from.

"I guess I'm not like the old man." Naruto remembered the soft, but steel willed, deceased Hokage. The others in the room smiled as they remembered Sarutobi.

"Even sensei was a little mischievous when we became a team", Tsunade remembered fondly. Then she looked at Naruto, who was grinning, "But he matured with our team, like I hope you will, with this one."

"You will," Shizune assured Naruto, "when you are responsible for the lives of your students, you will have to." Shizune piped in. "You will no longer be able to just jump in, and 'wing it' like you do usually, when with them. They are fresh genin. You will have to ensure their safety first and foremost." She lectured somberly and Naruto nodded.

He knew that already. After he had gotten a little older, he had understood just how powerful Kakashi-sensei really was and how he could have taken every threat they encountered when they were young pretty easily, had he not been covering for them every time, always prepared for a freak accident that could injure or kill his team. Genin were more like obstacles than assets for the jounin-sensei in battle and had to be protected at all cost. He had seen jounin instructors who had lost their team members.

He shuddered. He didn't want to go through that. It was like losing a child, only worse, because you had to tell the real parents that you had failed and had broken their trust and let their child die. Naruto knew he was strong and could take care of them, but, in all honesty, he had to ask himself. Was he up to it? To be a teacher?

Tsunade seemed to understand his thoughts. "Don't worry Naruto. You will be a wonderful teacher. You will be fair to them all. I know it."

Kakashi squirmed a little in his spot, feeling guilty about his apparent show of favoritism towards the Uchiha when he was the teacher of his team.

"If they turn out half the ninja you are, Konoha would gain wonderful shinobi." Shizune smiled at the blonde.

Tsunade smiled at her successor (hopefully). "The ones on your team. Did you read their files?" Naruto shook his head. "Nope. I didn't really care at that time." Tsunade smiled and took out three manila folders from her desk drawer and passed them to him. "I knew you wouldn't." Naruto took the folders and flicked through them. "I knew one was a Nara." Naruto said, reading the boy's file. His eyebrows went up. "Shikamaru's first cousin?" he glanced up at Tsunade.

"Shikaku's younger brother's son." Tsunade informed him.

As Naruto changed over to the other files, his eyebrows went up to his hitai-ate. Tsunade nodded, even though Naruto wasn't looking at her. "The other two are the from remnants of the Hidden Swamp village."

The Hidden Swamp village had been a small hidden village on the edge of the Land of Rain and the Land of Water that had been the unfortunate collateral damage of the Fourth Great Shinobi War with Akatsuki five years ago. The Leaf village had taken in most of the homeless villagers, the others choosing to go their own way. Most of the survivors were civilians and young children below fourteen as the older ones had died defending their village. Tsunade had allowed the surviving shinobi to become Konoha shinobi and the younger children to join the academy. The eldest of the survivors currently in Konoha as it's kunoichi was a twenty one year old tokubetsu jounin that Chouji was dating.

Tsunade looked at Naruto, who was reading the files with a serious expression on his face. "Both are orphans. Their parents died protecting their village. The girl lives with relatives in the village's clothing district. The boy lives with other boys like him in the western area of the old Uchiha compound."

While Sasuke had been pardoned for his defection after his help in the war, his property and inheritance had been confiscated by the Hokage and now served as a living area for the survivors of the Hidden Swamp village. Sasuke now lived in ANBU lodgings, even though he wasn't part of the elite troops. Tsunade decided that being surrounded by her personal soldiers, would keep him on his best behavior. Just because Naruto had forgiven all didn't mean she had. She had personally carved the Hiraishin seal into his heart muscles, using chakra scalpels, making sure that he would never be out of Naruto's reach until his heart was beating. She had already taken fifty artificial insemination worth of his seed from the Uchiha, and kept them in freezer, guaranteeing the continuation of the sharingan. He could go die for all she cared.

Tsunade watched as Naruto took this information in. "The boy most likely wants to prove himself. The girl is above average in her kunoichi group, behind only the two Yamanaka twins. I recommend that you sign her up for a side course on basic medical ninjutsu. Other than that, I trust you will take good care of them."

Naruto sighed. He knew when he was beaten. Very few people pushed him to do what they wanted against his wishes, and he allowed even fewer to do so.

"Very well, ba-chan." Naruto dragged a hand through his spiky hair, "I'll give them a chance. They still have to prove their worth to me, though." His eyes glinted. Kakashi was interested. "Are you going to use the bell test?" he asked. "Yep." The blonde answered. "That and something else. If they want to learn from a future Hokage, they need to do more than that."

With that, the blonde waved to the ones present. "Ja ne." He jumped out of the window, heading to his maybe-students.

* * *

While he had left to talk to Tsunade, Naruto had left behind a class full of apprehensive and intimidated graduates. The students had gasped as he vanished using his father's most prized jutsu. A few clan children even recognized who he was and were torn between being jealous and feeling sorry for Team seven. Iruka noticed the signs of hesitation in the students with his sharp instincts, honed through years of experience in dealing with children. He broke the tense silence that had descended upon the children because of Naruto's behavior.

"Ahem." He cleared his throat, calling the children's attention to himself. "I am Umino Iruka, Jounin sensei for Team Ten. My team, follow me."

Yamanaka Hana, Kurama Jin and Rookie of the year, Yuhi Shin stood up and followed the man out of the classroom.

Taking his lead, Hinata also turned to the students. "Hello." She said kindly. "I am Hyuuga Hinata. Team one, follow me."

Aburame Shibo, Hyuuga Yui and Inuzuka Kugi followed her out.

Kiba turned to the class and gave a feral grin. "Where are the brats of Team Nine?" he asked. Kenchi and his teammates tensed. Kiba sniffed the air and then turned to them. "It's you, eh? Come on, let's go."

Similarly, other jounin called out for their teams as well. Soon, only Team Seven was left. Kisuke and Shuuei stood up to leave as well and turned to look at Ai, who was still sitting.

"Come on, let's go." Shuuei nudged her.

"But sensei said to meet after an hour." Ai said, still sitting.

Kisuke yawned. "It's a drag but we should get moving too. At least go and wait at that ramen stand rather than in the academy."

Shuuei nodded. "Yeah! We should get to know each other better as well."

As they walked to the ramen stand, they talked among themselves.

"I wonder what type of a guy sensei is?" Ai thought aloud.

"I dunno." Shuuei said in reply. "Sure sounded scary though."

Kisuke sighed as he gazed towards the sky. While he wasn't an avid cloud watcher like his elder cousin, he did find them soothing after accompanying said cousin to cloud gazing ever since a couple of years ago.

Shikamaru niisan had taken him under his wing after Kisuke's father died in the war. He had been left with no immediate family as his mother had died a few years before the war, during Sound's invasion.

"I've heard of him." He told his teammates. "He was in the same graduating batch as my cousin."

Shuuei and Ai looked at the Nara, interested. "Really?" the boy asked. "What do you know about him?"

"Not much." Kisuke acquiesced. "Basically what I've heard the grown-ups talking about and some general stuff." He looked to the side so that he could look his teammates in the eyes. "He was one of the Konoha 11."

Ai looked a little confused but Shuuei's eyes widened in surprise and a little awe.

"Konoha 11?" Ai asked Kisuke. "What is that?"

Shuuei looked incredulously at his teammate. Kisuke sighed deeply and explained. "You might not have heard of them 'cuz girls in the academy didn't talk about such stuff, but among the boys, Konoha 11 are something like legends."

Ai still wasn't really clear on the situation, so Kisuke continued. "They were a batch of graduates from the academy years ago. Three teams from aniki's year and one from the year before them. People say that they were the most collectively talented batch of their generation. Most of them are tokubetsu jounin and some are Jounin by now. They have these really cool legendary stories about their exploits. Even now, some of the most difficult missions are assigned to the Konoha 11. They still maintain a success rate of 80%."

Ai listened with surprise and a little pride. "And our sensei is part of that group?" she asked.

Kisuke shook his head. "No." Ai and Shuuei looked at him , confused but Kisuke elaborated. "Sensei wasn't just part of the group. He was, no –still is , the best of that group."

"Wow." Ai took it in. "Wait." She asked. "If they were four teams, why were they eleven. Shouldn't they be twelve?"

Kisuke wondered whether he should tell them. It wasn't a secret or something. "The twelfth guy would have been Uchiha Sasuke." He answered.

"Oh." Ai nodded.

Most academy students had heard of the Last Uchiha and his history.

"On a side note. He is the son of the Yondaime Hokage." Kisuke continued. It only intimidated Ai and Shuuei further.

"Anyways." Shuuei changed the topic, "That tells us who he is, but not what kind of a guy he is." Kisuke nodded, a little pleased. His teammate used his head. That was good. Kisuke didn't like people who were too stupid.

"My cousin speaks fondly of him, so he's all right." Kisuke shuffled slowly as the ramen stand came into view. "We are here."

The three walked into the ramen stand and were greeted by the sight of Team Ten already inside. It seemed they were finishing up. Their instructor, Iruka sensei, was waving them off.

"Remember to reach on time." He was saying as his students departed, Yamanaka Hana grumbling something about ungodly hours. Yuhi Shin nodded to them as they passed.

Contrary to history, Shin wasn't a stuck up brat, or smug about his position as the rookie of the year. He and Kisuke were on good terms because of their common acquaintance, Kurenai-sensei, who took specialized classes for genjutsu at the academy for genin and chuunin looking to specialize or broaden their skill set. Academy students weren't allowed.

Team Seven entered as Iruka was chatting to the pretty woman behind the counter. He noticed Team seven arrive.

"Ah. You've arrived for your meeting." He began kindly, putting the graduates at ease. The three nodded. Ai looked hesitantly at the jounin and the ninja smiled encouragingly at her.

She drudged up the courage to ask. "You were talking with our sensei earlier, weren't you sensei?"

Iruka nodded.

"Do you know him well?" Shuuei asked and Iruka smiled.

"You could say that." he answered shortly but Kisuke noticed.

"Meaning?" he asked politely.

Iruka grinned at the boy, scratching his nose modestly. "I taught him at the academy, like Udon-sensei taught you."

The three of them looked at the jounin with a little more respect than before. "So, you're our sensei's sensei?" Ai asked.

"Yes." Iruka nodded.

"Who are you talking about, dear?" Ayame leaned over the counter and gave Iruka a quick kiss. Iruka blushed a little but answered her question calmly. "Naruto-kun, Ayame-chan."

Ayame watched the children with interest. "Naruto-kun took on a genin team? He never told me he was going to. We need to celebrate."

The three students looked a little surprised at this. Why would a shopkeeper want to celebrate their sensei taking a genin team? Apparently, their surprise was visible to the woman and she smiled.

"I've known Naruto-kun ever since he was little, barely able to climb that stool by himself." She pointed to the stools they were sitting on. The three looked at the stool and then tried to vision their tall sensei as a kid. Must have been a long time ago.

"I met Iruka-kun because of Naruto-kun. I saw the kind hearted person he is and fell in love with him. So, Naruto-kun, Iruka-kun, I and my father, we are like family." She turned to her husband "That's why I'm a little surprised he didn't tell me he was taking a team."

Iruka chuckled. "He didn't know until this morning when he showed up at the academy either."

Ayame laughed at that. "I bet he threw a fit?" she asked her husband. The three genin exchanged looks. These people really knew sensei.

"Don't worry." Ayame turned to them. "Naruto-kun is a fair man. He will not fail you on purpose."

"Fail?" Shuuei asked as Iruka groaned, covering his eyes with his palm and Ayame looked guilty. She had forgotten that the genin didn't know about the second test.

Kisuke looked at the woman. "You mean there is another test after this?" Ayame glanced quickly at Iruka.

"There is, isn't there?" Ai asked, her eyes widening with realization. They weren't genin yet. They could still fail. She didn't want to. She was already a strain on her relatives, who had three children of their own. She wanted to be a ninja so that she could contribute to the financial aspect of the family as well.

Iruka nodded. "There is."

Instantly, a gloom settled on the three. Kisuke less than others, but it was there. Iruka was quick to interrupt their pity party. "But don't worry. Like Ayame said, Naruto won't fail you unjustly. He is a fair man. If you perform well, he will pass you, irrespective of his personal feelings. He won't trample on your dreams for something so tiny such as his own wants."

"How do you know that?" Ai asked, her voice controlled, hiding the fear she was feeling.

Iruka smiled. "Because he knows the value of dreams."

He glanced over their heads for a moment and then stood up. "I must leave now. I have to prepare for my own test." He leaned over the counter and kissed his wife. "I'll be late." Then he left.

"So," Ayame tried cheering the kids up. "Do you want something? On the house today, for Naruto-kun's first team." The children looked at each other and nodded. Might as well have free food even if they were going to fail.

"Shrimp for me."

"I'll take the clear soup ramen."

"I'll take shrimp as well."

"All righty then." Ayame straightened. She could still feel the children were de-motivated. She felt bad. It was her fault for blabbing. She turned to the kids. "You know, one of Naruto-kun's special thing was that he never gave up." The kids looked at her in confusion. "Never." Ayame stressed on the word. Then, she turned and started working on the orders. The kids had a feeling something important had happened.

* * *

Naruto stood on the rooftop, looking at his prospective students at the ramen stand. He smiled as he felt Iruka land beside him. "So, Iruka-sensei. What do you think?" he asked his former teacher.

"They are good kids." Iruka smiled. "What about you?"

Naruto grinned as well. "They ordered ramen. That's already a point in my book." Iruka chuckled at that. Then he stopped as he saw Naruto's expression. He knew that expression. Everyone who had ever taught Naruto in the academy knew that expression. It was Naruto's 'This is going to be the best prank ever' expression.

"So, let's get this show on the road." Naruto cackled and jumped down.

Standing alone on the rooftop, Iruka couldn't help but feel sorry for the children.

* * *

**So, how was it?**

**Any good?**

**Drop me a line to tell me what you think.**

**Now, the list:**

**Team seven- Naruto**

**Yuri Ai (F)**

**Nara Kisuke**

**Tsuchi Shuuei**

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

**Team one- Hinata**

**Aburame Shibo**

**Hyuuga Yui (F)**

**Inuzuka Kugi**

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

**Team nine- Kiba**

**Yamanaka Hina (F)**

**Haruno Takeshi**

**Shouha Kenchi**

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

**Team Ten- Iruka**

**Yamanaka Hana(F)**

**Kurama jin**

**Yuhi shin**


	2. The Second Test Begins

**Hey readers... I'm back with the second chapter. **

**To all those who reviewed. Thank you...**

**Read and enjoy.**

**If you like it, leave a message :-D**

* * *

**Chapter 2: The Second Test Begins**

Team seven sat at the ramen stand, poking their ramen with chopsticks.

"Ayame-chan, one Super Deluxe Hokage Miso ramen please."

All three jumped. Sitting right beside them, was their sensei.

_When? I didn't even sense him._ Shuuei was surprised.

_He's good, just like I've heard._ Kisuke analyzed his sensei. _There was no dust from a shun shin. Did he use that special teleportation jutsu I've heard about?_

_He scared me. How fast is he? _Ai watched Naruto with wide eyes.

Ayame turned to look at Naruto and smiled. "There you are, Naruto-kun. Congratulations on getting your team."

Naruto grinned back. "It's not sure yet." He said, carefully avoiding glancing at the genin beside him.

Ayame frowned at him. "Don't say that. You will give them a fair chance, right?"

Naruto sighed dramatically. "What's with everyone asking me to give them a chance today?"

"Because that's what's right." Ayame lectured Naruto as the three listened, a little tense. Their sensei was being too flippant about their future.

A _large_ bowl, with enough ramen to last Shuuei a week was deposited in front of Naruto, who opened his chopsticks with "Itadakimasu." And dug in. All three watched in awe as their sensei inhaled the stuff like air. Before they knew what was happening, Naruto had finished his bowl.

"Ahhh. That hit the spot." Naruto stretched, like a content cat. Then he turned towards his students.

He hadn't really paid much attention to them in the academy, as he had been a little pissed at Tsunade. Now that he had decided to give them a fair chance he looked at them closely.

Nara Kisuke was built like a typical Nara. Black hair, pineapple ponytail , narrow dark eyes. He could see the family resemblance to Shikamaru. He wore his hitai-ate around his neck. The boy wore a similar ensemble that Shikamaru wore at this age. Cream-brown shorts, mesh undershirt and a grey jacket with the Nara symbol on his shoulder.

Next he glanced at Tsuchi Shuuei. The boy had dark brown hair, hitai-ate on his forehead. The boy was lean. Probably fast, too. He wore a standard shinobi gear. Very dark brownish pants, wrapped in bandages at the bottom, a light brown undershirt and a sleeveless brown zip-up. He had gloves on as well.

Last, he looked at the female member of his team. In his experience, girls were the weakest link in the team for combat. He wasn't being a male chauvinist. He had just observed. Even Tsunade had once told him, drunk of course, that in a no holds bar fight between the three Sannin, all of them healthy and in pristine condition, she would have lost to Jiraiya or Orochimaru after a long fight.

There were exceptions of course. Temari could kick Kankuro's ass all the way to Kumo with her fan. It wasn't like the girls were weak either, just that when compared to their teammates, they were a little behind. Sakura-chan wasn't weak at all. _Shudder. _But all said and done, he and Sasuke could kill her before she got a chance to use her monstrous strength against them. Same with Lee, Neji and Tenten or the Ino-Shika-Cho team. He didn't like to admit it but Hinata-chan would lose against Kiba and Shino as well. He pulled himself out of these musings to take a good look at Yuri Ai.

The girl had soft features. She had probably been the prettiest girl in her class. She didn't appear to be conceited, but time would tell later. The girl had a very light shade of lilac as her hair color. This color was common in water country. The girls eyes were a light purple, complementing her hair. She had shoulder length hair and she used hair clips to keep the bangs away from her face. She wore something that was popular with kunoichi these days. A lilac, sleeveless loose top with purple undershirt. She wore a short skirt thingy, with high slits on both sides for mobility and dark knee length skin tight shorts under it.

All in all, he had a respectable looking team. No weirdos, thank Kami. He cleared his throat.

"Okay, since we are going to be working together, even for a short while, let us introduce each other. Tell us about your likes, dislikes, hobbies, dreams and that stuff." Naruto said, copying a certain silver haired jounin.

"I'll start. My name is Uzumaki Naruto. I like a lot of things, like ramen, learning jutsu and training. I dislike snakes. I hate them. I dislike people who act all high and mighty. My dream for the future is to become Hokage, which isn't all that far now. Just ironing out a few creases until granny decides it's time to hang up the hat. My hobby is playing pranks. On a special note, I tend to say 'Dattebayo' when I'm excited, bored, sad, happy or basically anytime I feel like it." He looked at his team. "Dattebayo!" he finished, making his point.

"Um.." Shuuei hesitated but Naruto pointed to Ai. "Ladies first."

"Um- okay." Ai straightened in her seat. "My name is Yuri Ai. I like baking and cooking. I dislike flower arranging. I think it's stupid. My dream is to become a respected Kunoichi and help my uncle and aunt to go on a long vacation that they want to go on, but can't because they can't afford it."

Naruto nodded and looked at Shuuei. "You next."

"My name is Tsuchi Shuuei. I like hot springs, spicy food and fireworks. I dislike the rain. My hobbies are training and teasing my friend Kenchi. My dream is to become a jounin before my twenty third birthday to beat my dad's record."

Naruto smiled. _Nice dream._ "Nara, let it rip."

Kisuke took a deep breath and suppressed the urge to roll his eyes at his new sensei. "My name is Nara Kisuke. I like playing shougi with my oji-san , Niisan and **Aneue [T/l: Sister,** **in a more respectful way than neesan ]**. I like feeding the Nara deer as well as taking naps in the open fields." Naruto smiled at this. _Yep, definitely Shikamaru's cousin brother._ "I dislike people who refuse to use their brains and act snobby. My dream is to make Yoshino Oba-san proud of me, like she is of Niisan."

Naruto nodded at the three. "Okay, then. Tomorrow we will have your very first mission. Actually, it's more like a test which will decide whether you can actually be genin or not." He was a little taken aback by the lack of reaction. "Which doesn't seem to come as a surprise to you…" he observed. Ayame turned and made an apologetic face at him.

"Gomen, Naruto-kun. I accidently let the cat out of the bag."

Naruto grinned back at her. "Nah, it's okay. Doesn't matter whether they know before I told them. Some clan kids figure it out by themselves, anyways, as not everyone in their clans necessary pass their genin test." He turned back at the trio. "You can find me tomorrow morning at six at training ground Seven for the test. Ja ne." In a swirl of wind, their sensei was gone.

* * *

"I'm leaving, Obasan." Ai announced to her aunt as she rushed out the door.

* * *

At the same time, Shuuei locked the door of his room in the house he lived in with other orphans. He tightened the straps on his bag pack and ran towards the compound gate.

* * *

"Try your best, Kisuke." Nara Yoshino handed the boy his bag pack. "I will, obasan." The ponytailed boy said as, in his sleepy state, he walked into a blonde girl descending the stairs, with a large fan strapped to her back.

"Ow.. Watch where you're going gaki." The sandy haired woman flicked his forehead.

"Gomen, Aneue." Kisuke dragged his feet out the door, followed by his sister-in-law.

"Don't worry. It'll be fine. Just don't give up." Temari patted his shoulder and then shunshined away, to her own mission.

* * *

Ai was the first to arrive, followed closely by Shuuei. Kisuke arrived ten minutes later, hands in his pockets and eyes half closed. They greeted each other and sat down, leaning against the wooden post. Minutes passed away in silence, waiting for the dreaded test to begin.

"Say," Shuuei spoke out. "What time is it?"

"Around quarter past six." Ai responded.

"Wasn't we supposed to meet sensei here at six?" Shuuei asked. "Is he late?"

Kisuke frowned at Shuuei. "What did you say?"

Ai and Shuuei looked at him, confused. "Is he late?" Shuuei repeated dutifully.

"No, before that." Kisuke sat up straight, all laziness gone from his face as the cogs in his brain started to turn.

"I said wasn't we supposed to meet him here at six?" Shuuei repeated, wondering if his teammate was being stupid. _But considering he is a Nara, probably not._

"That's it." Kisuke's eyes widened. "Sensei said that we could find him at the grounds at six, not meet up with him at six."

The other two realized the choice of sensei's words as well. They sat up straight as well. "You mean we're supposed to _look _for sensei?" Ai asked. Kisuke nodded. "Most likely."

"This was a test as well." Shuuei realized. Kisuke nodded to him as well. "Yes."

Ai asked Kisuke, "And if we hadn't realized this?" Kisuke looked at her seriously. "We probably would have been failed." All three realized that it had been a close call.

"Fine then," Shuuei said, standing up. "Let's find him." Kisuke nodded as he stood up and offered a hand to Ai who accepted.

"So," she asked Kisuke, "What's the plan?" Kisuke seemed to be the sharpest in their team.

"We spread out and search until one of us finds him?" Shuuei offered.

"No." Kisuke disagreed. "That is too exhaustive. There is bound to be a time frame that sensei has set, so we need to do this fast. We have already wasted fifteen minutes. First, we must divide the areas according to the ease of hiding. Sensei is a jounin. If he wants, he can hide himself sitting right beside us and we would never find him. The purpose of this test is supposed to test our skills, so he would be hiding in middle to lower-middle hiding spots." The other two nodded as Kisuke made sense. "I need to know your strengths and abilities to design a plan."

Shuuei nodded. "I can read soil." He began. "Like when it last had water, when it was dug up, I can also understand if something's happening by the behavior of the small insects or worms that live in the soil. I can tell if someone is hiding under it by tapping on it. I can hide underground as well but only for ten minutes or so. I'm trying to master an earth jutsu."

Kisuke listened closely. "Can you track on ground?" he asked. Shuuei nodded. "As long as it's on soil. I'm still not that good with sand or stone."

"But you can do it here right?" Kisuke pointed to the trees. "If he walked on the ground , yeah. If he used trees, I won't be able to." Shuuei admitted grudgingly.

"And you, Ai?" Kisuke turned to the girl.

"I can jump really well. I can already use just trees to navigate in the forest. I learnt a few weeks ago that I can sense chakra as well, but since it hasn't even been a month, my range is still just hundred meters."

Kisuke nodded. "I can work with that. Now, listen up."

Kisuke took out a map of the training grounds and moved to their ground. Shuuei and Ai came closer. "He can either be here." He rested his fingers on a point on the map, "or here." He shifted his finger to the other side of the ground. "These are the only places where he can hide and still give us an opportunity to spot him."

Shuuei nodded and made to move away. "I'll check the first one, you go check the other."

"No." Kisuke stopped him. "We aren't clear on what will happen when we do find him. Either he may give us another task, or the task may begin as soon as we find him. If it's the latter, any one of us alone will be no match for him." Shuuei nodded and stopped. "We need to go together. If we run, we can check both places in half an hour."

All three nodded to each other and began running.

A small squirrel sitting in the clearing vanished In a poof of smoke.

* * *

As Naruto received the memories from his transformed clone, he looked up from the book he was reading, authored by his deceased sensei, not the perverted book but 'The Tale of the Gutsy Ninja.' He didn't read _that one. _At least not in public. He waited for another twenty minutes and then he felt three chakra signatures approaching his position. He didn't even bother to hide. He stayed in his lounging position on the tree branch.

"There he is." He heard Ai's voice call out to her teammates.

As they reached him, he closed the book and slid it into his pouch. He dropped down and surveyed his maybe students. None of them looked out of breath. That was good. If they were tired by just running around for twenty minutes, they weren't cut out to be ninja.

As the kids looked at him, he was pleased to see they were a little wary of him. _Good. Never assume a mission is over because you've completed what you thought was enough._ Naruto pouted at the kids.

"Heh, you guys found me. I was kinda hoping you would just keep waiting and I could fail you." The two teammates looked appreciatively at the Nara. "But," Naruto continued, "Since you are here, I can have some fun after all." He grinned foxily and the three genin shuddered.

Naruto slid his hand behind his back to withdraw something from his pouch and all three genin entered combat stances. "Relax." Naruto smiled. "I don't need to sneak attack brats like you." Before any of them realized it, he was behind them, whispering. "dattebayo."

All the fresh genins jumped in surprise. Naruto just laughed. "Anyways." He glanced down at them. "This is what I was taking out." He held out his hands for them to see. Two small bells hung from his fist. "This is going to be your test." He explained. "This test has a fixed least failure percentage of 33%. That means _at least_ one of you is going to fail and going to go back to the academy for another year."

"All genin teams are three man squads." Kisuke cut in and Naruto smiled at him.

"Usually they are, but the benefits of being the village savior is that you get to do things that others don't. " He saw Kisuke bite his lip. "I don't want a genin team, but Tsunade baachan convinced me to try taking apprentices. A little different than your average genin team."

The three of them drank this in as Naruto took out a large alarm clock and set it.

"You have two hours. At that time, those who don't have a bell will FAIL. Could be one, could be all three." He grinned widely at them. "You can use all ninja tools and weapons you have. Come at me with the intent to kill or you won't even touch me. Now, Start."

Naruto Hiraishin-ed out of the forest, into the open clearing, leaving the three genin behind. An awkward silence descended upon the group. One of them was sure to fail. None of them wanted to be the one.

Shuuei finally started to walk off. He turned and looked at them over his shoulder. "I'm sorry, but I can't be the one to fail. I wish it wasn't like this. I was kinda beginning to like you guys." He ran off. Ai looked at Kisuke a little teary eyed and Kisuke winced mentally. While he wasn't a fanboy, he wasn't immune to doe eyed girls either. Unlike his cousin, he hadn't labeled any and all females as 'troublesome' yet.

"I guess I should go too." She flexed herself to jump off but Kisuke stopped her. "Wait!"

Ai looked at Kisuke with hope in her eyes. "You've thought of something?" she asked. She had also heard about the Nara clan. They were supposed to be great thinkers.

"I do have an idea." Kisuke admitted grudgingly. Ai waited expectantly. "There are two bells." He began. "Shuuei already left to try on his own, so we could team up. It would be logical to join forces. A single genin is no match for a jounin, neither are two genin, actually, but two has to be better than one."

Kisuke could see that it wasn't what Ai had hoped for, but it was the best he could come up with right now. He did have a dozen or so other plans made but this was the best. A little sadly, Ai nodded her assent. The two jumped off.

* * *

Naruto stood patiently in the middle of the clearing, waiting. Unlike his test, no one was looking for an open conflict. All of them were hiding. One was alone and the other two were sticking together. He calmly turned a page in his book, waiting. He had learnt the art of patience some three years ago, while preparing for an infiltration mission. Had he been the Uzumaki Naruto of before, he would have attacked them and tied them up within minutes, but that would defeat the purpose of the test. So, he waited. They would make a move. Time was wasting away, after all. He sensed one of them move. The one who was alone. Underground. Naruto was impressed. Not many could pull it off at this age. Naruto made no move and just waited.

He was prepared when the ground beneath him erupted and Shuuei lunged at the bells tied firmly at his waist. Naruto leaned back and moved his waist out of the genin's reach, nimbly leaping away, eyes still in his book. Shuuei cursed loudly at his failed attempt and dashed after his sensei, bent on getting a bell.

"Nice." Naruto said, "but still not enough." He dodged Shuuei's punches and kicks effortlessly and droned in a bored voice, "Ninja use many different arts." He informed the boy as he danced around the boy, not even looking up from his book. "I'll teach you a few." Before Shuuei knew what was happening, Naruto ducked under one of Shuuei's kick and was suddenly positioned behind and under him. Kisuke and Ai watched horrified as their sensei made a handseal while in Shuuei's blind spot. Kisuke immediately sent out his shadow, but he knew he couldn't reach them in time. "Shinobi Tactic Number one: Taijutsu." Naruto grinned.

"Konoha's Secret Ultimate Taijutsu Technique : Thousand Years Of Death."

For a second, the three children were scared. Surely their sensei wouldn't use such a deadly sounding technique on a fresh genin. But then Naruto poked Shuuei in the ass with chakra enhanced fingers, causing the poor boy to fly through the air, clutching the seat of his pants. In the bushes, Kisuke and Ai sweat dropped. Their sensei was a twisted, twisted man.

"I know it's mean of me to say this, but I'm glad it was Shuuei-kun and not me." Ai said, her cheeks tinged with red.

"Don't be so sure." A voice behind them whispered and they jumped. They turned and were horrified to see two Sensei's siting behind them in the same way he had been with Shuuei. _Clones? _Kisuke was surprised and he remembered that Shadow clones were his sensei's signature technique. "Watch out for them." He yelled to Ai. "Those clones are corporeal." The clones grinned and together they roared and rushed at the genin.

"Konoha's Secret Ultimate Taijutsu Technique : Thousand Years Of Death."

As he prepared to jump, Kisuke saw that Ai frozen in fear and hesitated. He had a choice. To save Ai, he would have to use his shadow. To use his shadow, he couldn't jump. He had to remain on the ground. If he didn't jump, he could only stop one of the clones in time. Cursing his cousin for telling him about the will of fire, he sacrificed himself for his female teammate as a shadow rushed to the clone behind Ai.

_At least sensei will mirror my body and look equally ridiculous flying through the air._ With this thought as consolation, he felt his shadow connect and the brave Nara began closing his eyes, only to see the captured clone grin and dispel just as a super-powered ass poke launched him into the sky.

Back on the ground, the remaining shadow clone, standing next to the still frozen girl, watched Kisuke land in the middle of the clearing, bouncing of the grass.

"Brave kid." He said conversationally to Ai, glancing at her. "Took that one for you." and then dispelled.

Ai realized that what sensei said was true. She had even listed her jumping abilities as a strength, yet she froze and Kisuke had to take a hit for her. To be poked in the ass, in front of Kisuke would have been mortifying. She noticed Kisuke getting up and rushed to his aid.

The original Naruto smirked from his position some distance away from them as Ai helped her teammate up.

"Shinobi Tactic Number Two." He murmured. "Ninjutsu."

"GET OUT OF THERE!" Shuuei yelled to them, but it was too late. A hand came out of the ground and grabbed a struggling Kisuke by his ankles and dragged him into the ground until only his head was out of the ground. Another hand had tried to grab Ai but this time she had jumped away. She landed next to Shuuei. They both looked at their sensei with wary eyes. Those clones of his were very dangerous. Just because they could see one sensei didn't mean they were safe. There could be any number of clones anywhere.

"Shuuei-kun." Ai muttered to the boy in a low voice. "This will not work." Shuuei remained silent but privately he agreed. Ai continued. "Alone we are too easy to pick. Kisuke-kun said that two are better than one. I say three are better than two." Shuuei quick glanced at her, still keeping an eye on their sensei, who was still reading the damned book.

"What of the bells?" he asked the million ryo question.

"We'll do Rock-Paper-Scissors." Ai offered. Shuuei didn't seemed convinced. "At least then we may have a chance, but right now, it's impossible." Ai kept convincing.

"Fine, but best of five." Shuuei said. Ai smiled at him. Shuuei looked at their sensei. "Go and engage him. I'll get Kisuke out."

"Okay." Ai jumped away. Naruto smiled. He had been listening. At least this team was working together, unlike his own. He turned a page in his book as Ai reached him. As he had read in her file, Ai was good with kicks. She jumped high and kicked at him. He moved out of her reach. A soon as her feet touched the ground, she shot at him like a kunai, trying to ram her shoulder into his abdomen. Naruto leaped over her and landed behind her. This time she was ready and lashed out with a reverse kick. Naruto grabbed her leg and tossed her high into the air. Ai turned in the air and used her balance to land safely away from him. Naruto dashed after her, attacking with his own legs. Ai kept up a good defense but still got tripped up by Naruto.

During this exchange, he saw that Shuuei had taken Kisuke out of the ground. He smirked. It was time for the next lesson.

"Shinobi Tactic Number Three: Fuuinjutsu."

He gathered a small amount of chakra in his fingertips and tapped Ai's arms with it, transferring a seal onto her skin. Ai stumbled as her arms grew heavier than normal.

"Gah." She exclaimed as her arms sunk to her side, heavy as boulders. Naruto quickly tapped her legs as well. Ai collapsed to the ground. A short grunt above him drew his attention to the brown haired boy aiming a kick at his head. As he dodged, Naruto noticed a shadow slithering towards him on the ground.

_Trying to use Shuuei as a diversion to use his shadow, nothing less than what I expect from Shikamaru's cousin. _Naruto grinned and jumped up himself. He used a surprised Shuuei as a platform and jumped higher in the air.

As soon as Naruto jumped off Shuuei, Kisuke rushed to Ai, who was panting on the ground from her efforts to move her arms or legs. "What happened?" Kisuke asked quickly, checking for any signs of injury.

"I don't know. Sensei said something about Fuuinjutsu." Ai replied. "Then he tapped my arms and legs. Now they've become so heavy. I can't move them." Kisuke saw Naruto land some distance away. He tentatively tried to lift AI's arms and to his surprise, it was as light as normal. _Maybe they are heavy only to Ai._ Shuuei appeared next to him. "What now?"

"We retreat and recover. We need a strategy." Kisuke replied. He pulled Ai onto his back and both boys jumped away from the clearing and into the trees.

Naruto watched them go and smiled. _Accepting the need to retreat when teammates are in danger. Not bad brats, not bad at all. Sasuke would probably had left Sakura to die when we were that young and I wouldn't even have noticed she was incapacitated._ He glanced at the sky. _Maybe, just maybe, I can get used to you guys._

* * *

Shuuei and Kisuke landed behind a large tree at a significant distance from the clearing. Kisuke gently lowered Ai to the ground.

"What happened to you, Ai?" Shuuei asked, also looking the girl over for injuries.

"Fuuinjutsu." Kisuke answered shortly.

Shuuei raised an eyebrow at the answer, asking for more details. Kisuke sighed and sat down next to Ai. "I guess I forgot to mention that sensei is also a Fuuinjutsu master?" he sighed. "Great, just great." He muttered, more to himself than the other two.

"Is that bad?" Shuuei asked, a bit nervous.

"Depends." Kisuke answered. "on whether you're on sensei's side or against. If you are against," he continued slowly breathing.

"Like us." Shuuei said slowly.

Kisuke frowned, not liking what he was about to say. "We are screwed, to put it simply. Fuuinjutsu is very varied and multipurpose. True masters can fight using just seals and win. It would have been better for us if he had used genjutsu. At least that we have been taught to guard against. "

"Should have known." Shuuei sighed as he too, slid down to the ground.

"What do we do now?" Ai asked, nervous. "Time is running out."

Kisuke sighed. "Troublesome." He muttered. "I need to think." He closed his eyes and made the circular hand sign his cousin made and started thinking. For the next five minutes, Kisuke thought. Then he opened his eyes and he glanced at Ai.

"Sensei wouldn't have disabled you permanently for the test. He must have done something that can be reversed by non-Fuuinjutsu users or normal ninja, meaning, us." He shifted to face Ai. The Nara took Ai's hands in her own and lifted it close to his face, inspecting her arms closely. He saw nothing. Then he repeated the process while passing small amount of chakra into the girl's skin through his hands. As he turned the arm to look at the underside, he saw it –a small seal on her skin appeared as he applied chakra near that point. He drew a thumb over it and it smudged a little.

"Found it." He announced. Kisuke opened his canteen and dipped his thumb in the water. Kisuke rubbed his thumb on the mark again, this time wiping it off.

"Hey!" Ai exclaimed. "My arm is back to normal now."

"So we just wipe the seal off?" Shuuei asked, fascinated.

"Seems like it." Kisuke shrugged. "Look on the other arm. You will have to wipe the skin with chakra to make the seal visible" He looked at Shuuei and the brown haired boy moved to the other side of the girl and started looking for the mark on Ai's arm. Kisuke started looking on Ai's legs.

Ai felt heat creep up her face as Kisuke's hands went over the skin on her legs. She knew her teammate had no perverted intentions but the skin contact felt _intimate._ She squeaked as Kisuke's hands moved upwards of her knee. She felt Kisuke stiffen, but the boy thankfully didn't look up. If he had, he would have seen how red she was. Luckily, the seal appeared just below her shorts, above her knee. Kisuke wiped that seal as well. By then, Shuuei also managed to wipe the seal on AI's arm. Kisuke backed away from her and muttered, "You can do the other leg. You know what to do." Ai nodded, still resembling a tomato.

Shuuei turned to Kisuke. "Now what? Any plans?"

"I need to think." Kisuke leaned back against a tree trunk and closed his eyes. Ai managed to remove the seal on her other leg by this time. She and Shuuei waited, replenishing their chakra as Kisuke went over everything he had seen and heard about their sensei. Naruto-sensei wasn't going at full strength, that was evident to the Nara. If he had, Kisuke wouldn't have had time to save Ai from that ass poke. _Who does that to a girl, sheesh?_ Kisuke sighed. _In all honesty, Ai should have been able to dodge_, he thought, trying to ignore the burning still present in the seat of his pants. _Naruto sensei wasn't actually gonna poke her in the ass, but she froze…_. the Nara cursed. Going back to analyzing their fight up till now, Kisuke acknowledged that he should have been able to dodge the Doton jutsu that had him buried to his neck in dirt. So, keeping in mind all that, it was logical to conclude that it was possible to counter attack successfully if Naruto-sensei didn't up the level. All that was needed was a good strategy.

Kisuke opened one eye and glanced at his teammates. Ai was good with her feet and taijutsu. Shuuei was also above average in taijutsu from what he remembered of the academy. They could act as distractions. Troublesome as it was, he himself had greatly improved ever since Temari-aneue started to forcibly train him, so he could probably hold his own as long as their sensei didn't get serious. The Sun was barely in the sky and shadows were longer right now. He needed to capitalize on that. Maybe get sensei away from the clearing and into the trees. Kisuke closed his eyes and started planning.

After fifteen minutes, he opened his eyes and looked at his teammates. Shuuei and Ai were a little encouraged by the look in his eyes. "Okay, this is what we need to do."

* * *

**Well... There it is. Naruto is going for the bell test. Can the three live up to his expectations?**

**Kisuke has a plan... Naruto should know, a Nara isn't to be under estimated...**

**:-D**

**Review!**


	3. A Team Is Formed

**Hey guys! Here it is, the promised update. I'm sitting in an internet cafe and uploading this chapter because I promised I would. I haven't been able to answer the reviews because I don't have personal internet anymore and my new job is taking up most of the time I have in a day.**

**But Fear not, loyal readers, for KBR delivers what he promises (unless he is suffering from a writer's block, like in Babysitting. ^_^' Sorry.) and this chapter is the last in the Introduction arc. I'll mark the story complete and the next arc will take some time. At least 2 mnths.**

**So, Read, review and wait patiently.**

**In the meantime, if you have ideas, I welcome them all.**

**I may not reply immediately, but I will read them**

**So... Peace!**

* * *

**Chapter 3: A Team is Formed**

Kisuke looked at Shuuei who nodded. As per their plan, Ai was hidden in the trees. Kisuke turned to look at Shuuei who was slowly descending into the ground. He handed him the explosive notes.

"Remember. Quick and easy." He cautioned the brunette.

Shuuei rolled his eyes. Soon, the boy was gone from sight and Kisuke took out a few shuriken. From his hiding place, he could see Naruto-sensei smile and close his book. The man already knew they were back. Taking a deep breath, Kisuke dashed out of the bushes, his eyes focused on the man in the middle of the clearing. The blonde smiled at him as he threw his shuriken at the jounin.

Naruto smirked and ducked as the shuriken flew over his head. He felt the other boy coming from under the ground again. Sure enough, the brown haired kid lunged from under him, trying to grab the bells. Naruto laughed as he swiveled and kicked the boy away, still dropped to the ground. If only it was so easy.

A whizzing sound informed him of kunai flying towards him. He would have dodged, but the kunai went over his head. Frowning at the bad targeting, Naruto was about to say something when the prankster inside him whispered into his mind. He took a look around and realized what the genin had done. Tied to each Shuriken and kunai were thin razor wires. Naruto was almost boxed in. More kunai rushed at him, but realizing their aim, Naruto jumped out of the web that was being spun around him using the razor wire.

"Not bad, brats." He grinned as the genin groaned when he jumped out of their trap. "I'm guessing it was you." He said to Kisuke. "You've got a good head on you. But you can't prank the prank-master kid."

"You sure, sensei?" Kisuke smirked and the ground under Naruto exploded.

"Shit." Naruto cursed.

Still in the air, Naruto felt Ai jump up at him from the trees. The girl spun and tried to kick him. The kick landed squarely on his face, but then he vanished in a puff of smoke and Kisuke shot down from the air, surprise and pain flashing across his face.

Shuuei realized what had happened and tried to run but was still kicked in the stomach, which sent him flying up at Ai. The Kunoichi watched helplessly as she saw that Shuuei was in her path of descent. The two collided painfully before dropping to the ground next to Kisuke.

"How did that happen?" Ai asked, wide eyed.

"He Kawarimi'ed with me at the last moment." Kisuke said through his pain.

"I hit you?" Ai said, her hand flying to her mouth in horror.

"What's up brats?" Naruto said. "Was that all?" he grinned evilly.

Kisuke had to stop Shuuei from rushing in anger. "Stop." He said.

"Backup plan?" Ai asked, nervous. Kisuke nodded. "It's the best we can do now."

Shuuei nodded, sinking into the ground again. Ai took out a few exploding tags and attached them to kunai. Kisuke imitated her. "Now go!" he yelled, throwing the kunai at Naruto.

The two ran away from each other. Naruto dodged the kunai, only to have more sent at him. More kunai from behind showed that Shuuei had come out of the ground behind him. He dodged the kunai, but it seemed that didn't matter.

The kunai were thrown in a way to hit each other. As soon as they collided, they exploded, only a meter away from the blonde. Naruto was pushed away from the force and burst into smoke.

"Another clone, Dammit!" Shuuei cursed.

"Language, brat."

Shuuei's eyes widened as he was grabbed by his collar and tossed at the other boy. Ai rushed at her sensei, aiming kicks, but Naruto evaded easily. This went on for a few minutes when Shuuei also joined the fray. Kisuke was still lying on the ground, some distance away. Shuuei and Ai jumped at him, locking kunai with him. Naruto easily stopped their kunai with one hand each.

Ai was pushed back while Shuuei stood his ground and tried to push him back but Naruto easily held the boy at bay. The jounin was grinning, but suddenly he felt the telltale sensation of Kagemane no jutsu being joined to his shadow.

Shuuei grinned as Naruto looked over the brown haired boy's head to see Kisuke sitting victoriously holding the last seal of his jutsu.

"Kagemane no jutsu Success." The said boy grinned.

Naruto turned his eyes down at the ground and saw that Kisuke had used Ai and Shuuei's shadow to increase the range of his jutsu. The cracks formed when the underground tags had exploded hid the shadow from his eyes, while giving Kisuke a perfect way to use his shadow. Naruto had put him out of his mind as he had calculated the distance to be greater than the boy's range. He should have remembered that the kid was a Nara. Smarter than he looked. His carelessness had ended up with him getting caught.

Naruto knew he could break out of the jutsu with a pulse of chakra, but then, going with that thought, he could also kill the genin in less than a second if he wanted to. Unfortunately, operating under the level he had set for himself, Naruto was caught and the genin knew it.

Then, as if to tease the genin. The alarm rang.

"WHAAT?" Ai yelled, surprised.

"Sorry." Naruto grinned. "Time's over." With a small burst of chakra that sent Kisuke to his knees, Naruto overpowered the Shadow bind. He stretched exaggeratedly and smiled at the kids.

"It seems none of you pass." He said. All the three looked nervous and scared. Naruto continued. "Usually, if the team shows teamwork, they pass." Naruto smiled. "You guys certainly showed good teamwork. My own genin test sucked in your comparison."

"So does that mean we pass, sensei?" Ai asked, hopefully.

Naruto smiled wide. "Nope." He said.

The three looked dejected at that.

"Well, I guess I'll see you around anyways." Naruto waved at them. "Better luck next year." Then in a flash of crimson, he vanished.

"SHIT!" Shuuei punched the ground, his hand shaking and eyes closed to keep in his tears.

Ai's lips trembled as she too collapsed on to the ground. She put her head into her arms. "We were so close.." she whispered.

Kisuke stood looking up at the sky. Even the clouds didn't soothe him right now. How was he going to go home and tell his family that he had failed? While he understood Shuuei's loss, he was somewhat jealous of the boy that at least he didn't have anyone expecting things from him. The thought left as soon as it came, but Kisuke felt bad for thinking like that.

He walked to the edge of the clearing and sat down, his back to the tree. His fist clenched as he cursed inwardly. If only they had a minute more. They had almost gotten the bells. To have failed after getting so close, it really hurt. A soft thud next to him told him that his teammates had also come to sit near him. He glanced to his left to see Shuuei lying on the ground, his Hitai-ate down from his forehead to cover his eyes. To his right, Ai sat with her knees close to her chest and her head in her arms.

Closing his eyes, Kisuke too tried to come to terms with his failure.

* * *

The three sat there for a few hours. Neither of them wanted to go home and face anyone else. Thus, all three were together when a chuunin dressed in the standard Konoha uniform came to find them.

"Team seven?" he asked as he walked up to them.

Kisuke looked up and nodded. "Yeah, that's us."

"Hokage-sama has summoned you to her office. Follow me." The man turned around.

Surprised, the three stood up. They exchanged glances. None of the three had any idea what _the Hokage_ would want with them. The chuunin took them slowly back to the populated area of the village.

"So," he asked conversationally, "how was the test? Did you pass?"

The three bowed their heads quietly.

"Didn't, huh?" he nodded sympathetically. "Well, there's always next year, you know. Not everyone passes on their first try. I myself had to wait another year."

The three didn't respond.

"My first jounin sensei was a stick in the mud. Made us dodge while he threw blunted kunai at us. Five hits and we failed." He grinned back at the downcast genin. "He was a downright bastard. How were we supposed to dodge his throws? So we went back another year and then I got a laid back sensei. He just made us answer a few questions on strategies and passed us. I made chuunin in three years after that."

The genin listened in surprise as the chuunin told his story.

"So you see," the chuunin continued. "Sometimes there are jerks who just won't recognize your efforts no matter what you do. No reason to get all down, or struggle against what happened. Chances are, the guy you get next year will be sympathetic as you've already wasted one year because of some bastard who has too high standards."

The group had reached the Hokage tower by then.

"Here you go guys." The chuunin said kindly. "And remember, it's not the end of the world, all right? Just try harder next time."

With a wave, the ninja walked off. The three kids slowly walked inside the tower. They reached the reception and were escorted inside the Hokage's office. The Hokage was sitting in her chair, leaning onto the table, her chin resting on her hands. The three went and stood in a line some distance from the desk, standing at attention. They were cowed to be standing in front of the village leader for unknown reasons.

"I heard the results of your genin test." The Hokage began without preamble. The three flinched. Ai bowed her head. Shuuei and Kisuke looked ashamed as well.

"I wanted to apologize." The Hokage said, in a kind voice.

The three looked up in astonishment. The _Hokage_ wanted to apologize to them? What the hell?

The Hokage chuckled. "I see from your reactions that you are wondering why the Hokage would apologize for anything, and especially to three academy graduates. Am I right?

The three nodded, confused.

The blonde haired Sannin sighed. "You see, it is partly my fault that this happened." She explained. "I was the one who purposefully assigned you three to Naruto's team, knowing full well that he wouldn't like it one bit. I had hoped that he would give you a fair chance and overlook his own wishes." She shook her head.

The academy graduates exchanged looks. The Hokage sighed again.

"He told me about the exam. You three showed exceptional teamwork and even manage to trap him in the end. Usually, that would guarantee your passing, but Naruto is being stubborn. Unfortunately, the final decision about the team lies with the Jounin-sensei. He says you've failed so you've failed. Nothing I can do to change that without other failing teams accusing me of favoritism." She said sadly. She looked up at the three. The genin turned their eyes back to the floor.

"But." She said, "I _can_ ask him to test you again. He owes me so many favors that he will have to agree. The question is, do you want to give it another try, or would you wait another year?"

The three looked up with hope shining in their eyes. Tsunade nodded comfortingly at them.

"Understand this, though. I'm not forcing you. You need not do it. Plenty of fine ninja have had to return to the academy for another year. If you do decide to wait, next year I will personally assign you to a jounin who will be glad to take you as a team. I will add your test details to your record. Your exceptional teamwork will make sure that you three remain a team. Your test will be just for a formality. If you take it next year, you will be genin, I assure you."

The three considered these words solemnly.

"I understand that it is not an easy decision. You can think on it while I send for your fool of a sensei." Tsunade pressed a button on her desk. The same chuunin that had retrieved them walked in after a few seconds.

"Hokage-sama." The guy bowed.

"Bring Uzumaki Naruto here." Tsunade ordered.

With a short bow, the man turned and left.

"Wait outside as you think on it.", the Hokage motioned them to leave.

They, too, bowed and murmured 'Hokage-sama' as they walked out of the room. They went over to the couch in the waiting area and sat down.

No one spoke as they sat and wondered what to do. After a few minutes, the chuunin returned, with their sensei in tow. Naruto glanced at them and his eyes narrowed. Without speaking to them, he walked out into the Hokage's office. The chuunin came up to them.

"So he was the one who failed you, huh?" he asked, giving them a grim smile.

They nodded.

"Bad luck." The chuunin offered his words. "He carries a lot of weight in the village's power structure now. He can really screw things for you if he wants. You'd be better off waiting for a year, if you want my advice." He ruffled Shuuei's hair and walked away.

"What are we going to do?" Ai asked finally.

"Whatever we do, all three must agree as we can only take the test as three." Shuuei nodded and looked to Kisuke.

"I want to take it again with Naruto-sensei." He said finally.

"Is that a good idea?" Ai asked. "I mean, you heard what the chuunin and Hokage-sama said. We'll have a better chance next time."

"Still." Kisuke said, his face hard. "I'm not waiting a year. We almost had him, right? If we try again, I'm sure we can get the bells."

"He's right." Shuuei turned to Ai. "We can do this. Why should we wait another year, just so we'll have it easy? No. We'll do it this time and we _will_ make genin."

"If you guys think so," Ai smiled softly. "I'm with you."

The receptionist was called into the Hokage's office and then she poked her head out into the waiting area, "The Hokage will see you now."

The three stood up and walked into the office. They could immediately feel the uncomfortable atmosphere in the room. Naruto-sensei stood with his normal smile and cheerful demeanor missing. His face was an expressionless mask as his gaze stood fixed on the wall in front of him. The Godaime looked annoyed as well. The three faltered a little in their steps. This did not bode well.

"So, have you three decided?" she asked.

Naruto-sensei turned to them and they almost flinched.

"Let me make one thing clear.", he said. "If you take this exam again now, I'll be making it more difficult. And if you fail, I'll be the one taking your test next year as well. And the year after that, if you fail again, and the one after that and so on. Effectively, you'll never pass until you really manage to impress me, and let me tell you, I was fighting S-rank criminals before you stopped sleeping with the lights on. Not much impresses me now. You lot would be better off giving up and taking it next year. Ba-chan has already told you, yes? She will make sure you become genin next year, but if you still stick with me, your chances aren't looking that good."

"I'll still take it." Kisuke said, looking directly into Naruto's eyes.

"M-me too." Ai said, a little cowed by the fierce look from her sensei.

"I'm not one for giving up either." Shuuei squared his shoulders.

"Are you sure?" Naruto asked. "I won't let you quit once the test begins. Once you start, it will get really ugly, brats."

The three stood their ground.

"Last chance." Naruto smiled sadistically. Ai shrunk a little, but Shuuei and Kisuke grabbed her hands. She looked at them, and then smiled.

"We're ready sensei." She said.

The doors of the room burst open, causing the three kids to jump in surprise. They were even more shocked when another Godaime burst into the room, looking very pissed. Before they could react, the doppelganger had crossed over to them in three long strides and punched their sensei in the face.

Ai screamed in horror, but she need not have. Their sensei burst into smoke after flying half way through the room.

"Brat!" the doppelganger barked.

They were further surprised when the Hokage sitting behind the desk chuckled. They turned and saw the blonde woman grinning in a way that reminded them of their sensei. The woman in the chair pushed the chair away from the desk on it wheels.

The doppelganger clenched her fists. "You do know it is a crime to impersonate the Hokage?" she asked.

The person behind the desk twirled the chair around on its wheels spinning the Hokage's hat on a finger. "Aww come on. It'll be mine in a few years anyways." She said.

Kisuke groaned, as he slapped his palm onto his face.

"What?" Shuuei asked.

"This was a test." He groaned. "So troublesome.", he complained.

"Huh?" Ai asked, confused.

In a poof, the blonde woman behind the desk turned into their grinning sensei.

"Sensei?" Ai exclaimed. "What are you doing there? What's happening?"

"It was all a test." Kisuke said, shaking his head. "Failing us even after we performed so well in the test. He was trying to see if we would give up after our first insurmountable obstacle."

"You definitely are Shikamaru's brother all right, dattebayo." Naruto smiled.

"I'm guessing the chuunin was your transformed clone?" Kisuke raised an eyebrow. Naruto smiled really wide.

Shuuei nodded to himself slowly. "That was why he was trying to get us to go back to the academy."

Naruto jumped up from the Hokage's chair and walked up to the three. "When I was a kid, I didn't have it easy." He said. Tsunade's eyes softened as she walked up to the kids as well. "But I never gave up. I always pushed forward, never accepting defeat. I was the dead last of the academy. Look at me now."

The three looked surprised. The Legendary ninja had been the dead last?

"I know it isn't what people talk about me these days, dattebayo, but I failed the graduation test three times because they would always test us on the bunshin jutsu, which I sucked at. Even against all that, I never gave up." He regarded his students with a proud gaze. "And if you had given up so easily, just for the distant vision of an easier try next time, you weren't worthy of being my genin." He said. "But I am proud of you. You guys stuck to your guns against overwhelming odds. So I'll give you another chance."

"Another chance?" Shuuei asked. "We still haven't passed?"

"You have in all but name." Naruto waved his hand dismissively. "Consider yourselves eligible for a bonus task. If you manage to complete this test, I'll acknowledge you as my cute little genin."

"What is the test?" Kisuke asked, curiously.

"Follow me." Naruto said and jumped out of the window. The three exchanged glances and discreetly looked at the Hokage who snorted.

"Go ahead. The doors of my office are merely for decoration, if my ninja's actions are to be believed." She said sarcastically.

Nodding and bowing, the three followed their sensei out of the window. In a minute, they reached a bridge where their sensei came to a halt and took a seat at the railings.

"This here will be our team meeting spot." Naruto said and then smiled. "Now, about your final test….."

* * *

"Are you sure?" Ai asked Kisuke. "I don't want to get into trouble."

"Why would we get into trouble?" Shuuei smirked. "After all, we are just young, impressionable genin, completing our mission as assigned to us by our sensei. Aren't we taught in the academy that a mission comes first?"

"Yeah, and it was a drag trying to plan this to perfection yesterday. I'd rather my hard work not go waste." Kisuke sighed. "Let's begin. It's only two hours till day break."

And that was how the early risers of the village found their most revered landmark painted with neon bright colors reminiscent of a day almost a decade ago, and the words

"TEAM SEVEN IS BACK, BITCHES!"

painted over the heads of the Hokage of the past along with individual make-up job on each of the village leaders.

Hours later, the three silently made their way out of hiding that they had gone into after the 'mission' was completed, and ran to the bridge after their meeting time arrived and found a hysterically laughing Naruto, clutching his stomach.

"That was awesome, dattebayo!" he wiped a few tears from his eyes. "Almost as good as mine."

"Your's?" Ai asked.

"Yeah!" Naruto nodded. "I painted the monument before I became a genin as well. Now that you have done it, I can proudly call you my students. Think of it as a rite of passage if you will. Pass it on to your students and their students after them."

Generations later, this will be the moment people would remember as the beginning of the Great Painting Tradition. In the coming generations, Out of seven Hokage of the future, six would be the ones who had painted the monument as their initiation into the ninja world.

But I digress.

"Here." Naruto threw each of them a package. "My promise. These mean I personally recognize you as worthy students."

They opened it to find a long triangular cloth with similar decorations to that of Naruto's cloak. Black flames and crimson background. Ai and Shuuei looked confused but Kisuke smiled. He had seen this type of cloth before. He tied it around his waist, like the Twelve Guardian Ninja of Fire wore their sashes. Taking his lead, the other two did the same.

"Now let's go get some ramen." Naruto clapped his hands together.

* * *

The other genin couldn't BELIEVE what their classmates had done.

The three teams had been taken to the ramen stand by their respective sensei for some reason. They had expected their friends to get into trouble, but to their shock, almost everyone above the age of twenty five only laughed as they looked at the monument. They were still wondering when they heard loud cheering and clapping along the road. They leaned forward to look and saw Team seven, along with their sensei walking proudly up the street. They were now wearing matching sashes around their waists.

"I don't get it." Hana said, "They desecrate the monument and they get cheered on?"

Her teammates wisely remained silent. They had realized in the last two days that being the voice of reason when the blonde girl ranted was detrimental to their health.

"That's not it, Hana-chan." Hyuuga Hinata smiled as she stood next to the girl, behind her own genin team, "It's a symbol from Naruto-kun."

"Symbol, sensei?" Hina asked softly.

"Yeah." Kiba laughed loudly.

"I don't understand, Hinata-sama." Hyuuga Yui asked respectfully.

"That's Naruto's way of saying that he is passing on his knowledge to the next generation." Iruka smiled. "After all, he was the first one to paint the Hokage Monument like this."

The genin looked shocked. Then their eyes went back to the group coming their way. All they could think was –

'_Dear Kami! What will happen next?'_

* * *

**AAAND CUT!**

**So, here we are, at the end of Arc one...**

**I'll start another arc after I think of something.**

**Till then,**

**Review! :-D**

**BYE BYE!**


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